KHON KAEN: Twenty-one civil servants in Khon Kaen tested positive for drugs during a recent crackdown on narcotics and weapons in all 26 districts of the northeastern province, authorities have said.
Governor Kraisorn Kongchalard made the revelation during a briefing that he and Pol Maj Gen Noppakao Sommanat, the chief of Khon Kaen police, held yesterday about the operation.
More than 760,000 speed pills, some amounts of crystal meth and ecstasy pills, many guns, war weapons, explosives and ammunition rounds were seized during raids at 880 locations in the province in the previous four weeks, said Mr Kraisorn.
A total of 192 suspects were arrested for firearms offences with 184 weapons and 508 rounds of ammunition seized. Two more face charges of illegally selling firearms and explosives, he added.
Police also apprehended a total of 1,689 suspects on drug charges.
Drug tests were also conducted on civil servants across the province, with 21 found to have been involved with illicit drugs, said the governor.
Provincial governors and police chiefs have stepped up drug and weapon suppression operations in the past month, ever since the Nong Bua Lam Phu nursery massacre shocked the country.